Rwanda names gorillas on World Environment Day

Rwanda hosted UN World Environment Day Saturday with a ceremony to name 11 endangered baby mountain gorillas in which Internet users worldwide were able to take part.The annual naming has been held since 2005 in Rwanda, but this was the first year in which people have been able to give their online suggestions for naming two of the infant apes.The ceremony will take place Saturday at the foot of the Virunga volcanoes that straddle the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and which are home to about half of the world's 700 mountain gorillas.

Rwandan Prime Minister Bernard Makuza led a traditional ceremony on Saturday to "baptise" 22 gorilla babies that was introduced six years ago for the endangered species.At the colourful name-giving event at Kinigi, on the edge of Volcanoes Natural Park, children disguised as gorillas represented the animals just outside their natural habitat.The park on the border between Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo is home to half of the world's 700 mountain gorillas. They were brought to the attention of the outside world by the renowned US primatologist, the late Dian Fossey.

TORONTO — When Rwandan President Paul Kagame and other officials from the East African country meet with Toronto’s business community on Friday, their message will be simple: Rwanda is open for business.
It may be the biggest push for foreign investment that Rwandan leaders have ever made on Canadian soil. But thanks to the recent experience of a small Canadian oil and gas company, it could be a tough sell.

Britain’s Soco International said June 11 it would end exploration of oil and gas in the ecologically sensitive Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Africa’s oldest national park.Soco has been conducting seismic testing in Virunga, where about half of the world’s remaining 950 mountain gorillas, as well as chimpanzees, elephants and hippopotami still live.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - The British government said on Tuesday it is opposed to London-based oil company Soco International exploring for oil in Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park, which is a last refuge for the region's mountain gorillas. "We have informed Soco and urge the government of DR Congo to fully respect the international conventions to which it is signatory," a foreign office spokesperson said in a statement seen by Reuters. "Foreign investments in sectors such as hydrocarbons ... can play a vital role in boosting development of the DRC ... ...

A controversial UN-backed operation reported to have claimed hundreds of civilian lives has succeeded in disrupting Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern Congo and will be wrapped up by year's end, a UN envoy said Wednesday.Alan Doss, the UN special envoy to Democratic Republic of Congo, told the Security Council that the objective of the Kimia II operation against rebels of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) "has been largely achieved although... there have been very serious humanitarian consequences."